‘Charmed’: Reboot is more mayhem than magic

Related Articles

Something witchy this way did not come for the 2018 reboot of Charmed. If anything, it feels like an opportunistic attempt at capitalising on the legacy and success of a much-loved series.

At its peak, the original Charmed (1998-2006) was the longest running TV series featuring all-female leads. Beneath the campy fun about spells and potions, it explored the intricacies of sisterhood along with the joys and pain of womanhood in a subtle, yet strong way.

Watching the Halliwell sisters – Prue, Piper, Phoebe and later on Paige – navigate through love and life as both powerful witches and ordinary women, made for very good television indeed.

This latest reincarnation of Constance M. Burge’s creation bills itself as a feminist show. But given the accomplishments of the original, how much more “feminist” can Charmed get?

In this photo-or-it-did-not-happen era, the feminism in question has to be outright. That might explain why the reboot (developed in part by Jane The Virgin creator Jennie Snyder Urman) kicked off the pilot episode with a minor, albeit conspicuous, subplot about the Time’s Up and #MeToo movement. Not feminist enough? How about we throw in some clunky dialogue about consent?

Its careless, trivial and almost forced treatment of female empowerment aside, the bigger offence to me (and many other fans of the original, I’m sure), is the blatant creative license it took.

Is there a spell for originality in the Book Of Shadows?

The Charmed universe as we know it, is given such a rude overhaul, the new series should be titled something else and not be known as a reboot.

And that kind of got me thinking: Had I not watched the original Charmed, would I have liked this reboot better?

The problem with that view, though, is that the reboot relies heavily on the backstory crafted by the past Aaron Spelling production. Where the original took its time creating its witchy lore, the reboot pretty much expects viewers to already be familiar with stuff like The Power of Three and Whitelighters.

Naturally, comparisons are unavoidable. But for objectivity’s sake (and at the risk of sounding like a scorned fan), let’s leave talks about the original at the door for now.

The new Charmed is set in a fictional college town and tells the story of the Vera sisters Mel (Melanie Diaz) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffery).

Perpetually angry Mel treats any form of injustice against her or her girlfriend as violation of her female rights.

On the contrary, younger sister Maggie is so basic, she wants nothing more than to join the sorority.

The girls’ lives take a bleak turn when their mother, who happens to be a women’s studies professor (feminism, anyone?), mysteriously dies.

Three months later, the girls learn they have an elder half-sister – Macy Vaughn (Madeleine Mantock).

In the midst of all this upheaval, the siblings discover that they are the most powerful witches in the universe. Macy can move things with her mind (telekinesis), Mel has the ability to stop time while Maggie can read thoughts (telepathy).

Helping the sisters navigate through this magical journey is the Whitelighter Harry Greenwood (Rupert Evans), a cheap rip-off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Giles.

15 Comments

Lisa

I think what they should of done instead of remaking it they should of let it continued on with Wyatt and Chris and still having the original Charmed Sisters there to guide and help them! Now that would of been a bigger hit than what they are giving us. It just makes sence doing it that way and also keeping the original cast members not replacing them. I think thats what should of been done. Thats what the fans want. Don’t get me wrong the new girls are doing ok but it just lacks something…

Jacob

Nj

The new ‘Charmed’ does not bring the same excitement as the old one. The new one is lots of gaps in the storyline. Like the sister were easy happy to accept there half sister who they never knew. How they think more about themselves. Good part is the reasoning on chemistry with magic. The use of techology (mobile hogging). But cant be compared to oldies.
Sabrina the witch is more interesting since it cant becompared to the old one. Evil vs good n funny..

Jacob

LOL, your analysis is middle-school level at best. As thought they didn’t just accept Paige when she was introduced? The use of technology, are we serious, have you been out in public recently? All we do is use technology. This is a pathetic excuse of a review.

Jane Terrell

Charmed? LMAO, more like three man-hating evil bitches. The “show” is rated 3.9/10 on IMDB for a reason – none of the three main characters are the least likable. It’s not a show, it’s the worst kind of PC puke that they are trying to shove down your throat. CW didn’t want to reboot the beloved “Charmed” series, it just want to jump on the latest “#MeToo” bandwagon as a self-righteous prick.

And by the way, the show is not “feminist”, it is in fact giving feminism a bad name. If you want a true female hero you should watch the original series, or shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” – that’s how you build a strong, vivid female lead who can relate to the audience, not a shallow, one-dimension, smelling heap of crap from this new “Charmed”.

Rachel Limbrick

I was a fan of the original Charmed
The characters all seemed to have great chemistry on screen and it seemed so smooth and natural.
I tried with an open mind to watch it reboot. The chemistry is definitely not there. The story lines are all over the place. The pilot to me was nothing special and boring. I watched 2 more and it didn’t get any better. I hope they don’t renew another season.
I love most of CWs shows especially Supernatural. In my opinion CW should have gone with Wayward Sisters. That show’s characters already have a large fan base, any crossover episodes with SPN would be great.
Charmed needs a major overhaul or cancellation and Sisters put in their place.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

Stuart

Modern TV at is worst. ‘CIS’ male gets thrown about as an insult alienating a huge portion of its audience. The characters are not the least bit likeable especially the ultra man hating lesbian who ticks off every stereotype you can imagine.

deejay

Agreed, it is a shameless cash grab for the #metoo movement. The end of the first episode of the original show the line was the power of three will set you free. Here it seems to be about them versus the evil men of the world. The actors aren’t believable as sisters, the acting isn’t very good, and the characters are rather massive stereotypes for a show centered around feminism and SJW politics. The feminist that is constantly challenging the patriarchy and interrupting make-out sessions, the sorority girl to grab the selfie Instagram crowd, and the lost half black sister who is perfect aside from being insecure.

It should have been a continuation not a reboot, the focus should have been sisterhood and family, they shouldn’t have overpowered the sisters so much, they should have figured out their powers first before being introduced to the white-lighters, the characters should have been fleshed out beyond quirks, and it shouldn’t try as hard as it is to stuff in buzz words and fads. It reminds me of the episode of the original show where they said something that tries that hard to be cool obviously isn’t.

Jacob

Yvette

All the things I hate have already been mentioned, so I’ll focus on what I like.

I like the new spell chanting. I find it intriguing and I like the hand movements they use to involve the light. That was cool.

I think they should continue on for another season. Even the first season of the original was cringe worthy. They just need to slow down, focus on character development, and stop shoving their propaganda down our throats.